As the functionalities of a motor vehicle increase, it may become necessary to configure indicators and operating elements for various functions such that they may be easy for a driver of a motor vehicle to recognize and to operate.
Various proposed solutions to this problem are believed to be described in the literature. For example, according to International Published Patent Application No. WO 00/21795, provision is made for arranging a display field or indicating field in multiple parts, one part of the indicating field representing an information panel on which information about the selected menu or selected function, as well as (optionally) important information about other functional groups, is reproduced. On the remaining part of the indicating field, functional and/or status indications are conspicuously generated such that they are each allocated to an operating element, e.g., to the operating element to which, in that selection menu, the respective function for operation is allocated. In addition, a return function to a higher-level menu is allocated to one of the functions indicated in the remaining display field and allocated to one of the operating elements.
According to German Published Patent Application No. 101 39 693, in the context of modern electronic devices in a vehicle that constantly offer additional functions with more and more options, because of the limited installation space for the associated operating elements, multi-function operating elements have been created with which various functions of the connected devices can be performed. European Published Patent Application No. 0 366 132, for example, describes a multi-function operating device for motor vehicles in which the selection of function groups (MENUS) and of individual functions is accomplished by a rotary switch, and in which an ENTER function can be initiated, one and the same bidirectional rotary switch serving for menu selection and for individual function selection. This rotary switch has click-stop positions to which menus or individual functions are allocated, in which context the ENTER function can be initiated by an axial motion of the rotary switch. A multi-function operating device of this kind serves, for example, to enter the destination of a navigation system. An alphanumeric keypad, within which the user can move back and forth by the bidirectional motion of the rotary switch, is imaged for that purpose on an indicating unit. When the cursor is then located on the desired alphanumeric character, the latter can be selected by an axial motion of the rotary switch and transferred into the navigation system. It is also described in German Published Patent Application No. 199 41 960 to arrange an operating element as a cylinder, rotatable bidirectionally about its longitudinal axis, that is movable resiliently with respect to the longitudinal axis.
For convenient operation and in order to simplify operating haptics, German Published Patent Application No. 101 39 693 describes that a bidirectional rotary element may be arranged with a rotation axis extending substantially parallel to a vehicle part surface. Using the bidirectional rotary element, a bidirectional selection or choice of function groups and/or functions within a menu plane is made. Selection of the menu planes is accomplished via a second operating device. The second operating device can be implemented by displacement of the bidirectional rotary element parallel to the rotation axis of the bidirectional rotary element. A further variant provides for arranging the bidirectional rotary element as a rocker in the direction of the rotation axis in order to constitute the second operating device. Another solution provides for the provision of a second operating device which has two operating elements that are actuable parallel to the rotation axis of the bidirectional rotary element. The second operating device is arranged on or at least partially in the bidirectional rotary element, and constitutes a physical unit with the rotary element. In addition, the bidirectional rotary element is arranged for selection or choice in two directions on the indicating apparatus, and the second operating element for selection in two further directions, e.g., perpendicular to the selection directions of the bidirectional rotary element.